6/24/2013

Well, this has been my second week in the land. So exciting! It has been so much fun and i am learning so much every day. As of right now, the work is a little slow, but the field is ready to harvest and there are more than we can teach in Aalborg, so we'll find the people and we'll get to teaching them :)

There's actually one lady here that says that she was baptized into the church when she lived in Bountiful when she was a child, but when her family moved back to Denmark, they couldn't find an lds church, so they became inactive. The missionaries found her a few weeks ago. We've been visiting her and teaching her about the church so she knows what everyone's talking about when she goes to church. When we were talking to her one day with the Elders, she told us that she was baptized when she was six and moved back before she was 8. What? That doesn't quite fit into our calculations. It's also strange that she doesn't remember her baptism... so we decided that she's probably not even a member, but she thinks she is. Crazy! So, we might be having a baptism here soon :)

This week we went knocking (or tracting).  In Danish it's called Banking, which literally means knocking so that's what we call it here. Anyway, we went knocking and had a really great time. We were in a much nicer neighborhood by the church. The houses were all so cool looking! Especially their doors. I know, it's a strange thing to think is so col, but it's true. The doors were really cool looking. There were some modern looking doors, then antique looking doors, then doors with cool designs. A lot of them had knockers, which i thought was really cool :) But, that's not what i was going to tell you. We were knocking at one particular house that had a glass door. The whole wall was actually glass. The guy poked his head around the corner to see who it was, then tried to hide from us. That doesn't really work when you've got a glass wall... so, he decided to man-up and answer his door. He walked out and he wasn't wearing pants! Awkward! haha He was wearing these really small black underwear, and it didn't help that he was a big guy. We talked to him for a minute and left him with a pamphlet. He was really nice, but it was really strange that he wasn't wearing pants. Welcome to Denmark! haha

We went to visit a member and had such a nice time. Her name was Mae-Britt. She gave us a little tea party with hot chocolate (because it's almost that cold some days) and delicious Danish pastries. Yum! I had so much fun! We only ever played with tea sets as a kid and imagined what it would be like, and here i was, having a for real tea party in Denmark with the sweetest lady and i couldn't understand a word she said! It was so great! I love tea parties!

This week we had zone conference in Århus. It's kind of a long train ride down to århus, so the senior couple there told us that we could come stay with them the night before. They spoiled us rotten! They had delicious is (ice cream) for us, and m&m's, and they cooked us breakfast and everything! It was a blast! We helped them with all the preparations for the training and had some nice little chats with them. They were just the greatest. I guess all the Elders were pretty jealous, though, because none of them are even allowed inside of their apartment, yet we got to stay the night. That's what we get for being the only sisters in the entire zone, though :) And, they asked us to come back for the next zone training :) I am so excited!

Well, those were the highlights of my week. It was a great week. We had tons of fun and got lots of work done :) Now, we just need investigators.

Kærlighed,

Søster Erin Handley

Questions:

Do you dream in Danish?

       No, i do not dream in Danish yet. Most of my dreams lately haven't actually had any sort of language, just pictures and really frustrating thoughts haha I keep dreaming that i left important stuff in Missouri and i can't get new stuff here. I'm sure i'll eventually dream in Danish because everyone out here says that eventually they do.

Are you loving the food?

 The food here is amazing! I love just about everything, except for the leverpostej which is literally liver paste. Gross! but everything else is amazing, especially their desserts! This is not going to be good for me. And, i found that they do have some good peanut butter here :) Day made! There are actually a lot of Danes her in Aalborg that really like peanut butter, our ward mission leader included :) I tried my first Danish hot dog this week. It was so much better than American hot dogs! They have this delicious sauce called Remoulede that is really good. We made our own all Danish meal yesterday that was AMAZING! I've got the recipe in the cook book i bought last p-day. It's the cook book that everyone has here and it's the one that everyone suggested to buy. The best part is, we found it for 1/3 of the price! Heck yes!

Have you received any mail yet?

 Yes i have :) There was a letter waiting for me at the mission office from President Lawrence, so that was cool. Then, this week i got a letter from Grandma Putscher and from Luke. Luke's in Sweden so not too far from me and the letters here can be 50 grams, so he sent me a Swedish candy bar. It was pretty cool :)

How are you doing with the time change?

 I'm still having a hard time with the jet lag. 8 hours is a big time difference, but it's getting better every day. I think the biggest problem is that we're far enough north that the sun never actually goes down here in the summer. That makes it hard to go to sleep and all that, but it's kind of cool. I woke up in the middle of the night once, it was 2 or 3 am, and it was still fairly light outside.

How do you like the weather?

 It's kinda cold up here. Not crazy cold, but definitely cold compared to the humid 90's it was in Missouri! It's cool enough to still wear a light sweater all day and we make sure to always have a jacket handy because the weather likes to change a lot. There's nothing here to stop the wind or the clouds so one minute it could be warm and sunny, and the next it could be cool and rainy. It rains a lot, but not heavy rain too often. The weather's really calm, too. The rain is usually pretty light and gentle. It's pretty pleasant, but it definitely does not feel like June! haha

What are the sun sets like?

 The sunsets here are BEAUTIFUL! I've tried to get pictures, but the pictures definitely do not do it justice. They're this beautiful pink and orange color. They're to die for! It's absolutely wonderful.

Are you near the ocean?

 We're pretty close, but i couldn't tell you exactly how close we are. Aalborgh does border a fjord, which is really cool. I've taken lots of pictures of that. Fun fact for you: No matter where you are in Denmark, you are within 60 miles (maybe even kalometers) of the ocean. :)

Are you able to talk to people?

 I am a pro at pretending to know what people are saying :) MTC Danish and real life Danish are very different haha so it's really difficult to understand what people are saying to me, but if i can get the gist of what they are saying, i can usually answer back. It helps that a lot of the members, especially the young adult and younger families, know English as well. They're really good at walking me through a conversation so i can talk. I'm understanding more and more every day so hopefully soon i'll be able to have a full for real conversation :)

Have you eaten any danishes or real chocolate?

 This week we actually went to a for real Danish bakery in Århus when we went to Zone training. It was absolutely delicious! All of the pastries here are heavenly. We also went to a member's house to visit and she set up a cute little tea paty for us :) I guess everyone does that here, which is pretty cool :) We had little tea-cups on saucers and we drank hot chocolate, then we had these delicious pastries with chocolate and vanilla frosting, and a jordbær tart (strawberry tart) that was absolutely delicious! It was absolutely wonderful. Apparently we're going to another house this week where the lady sets up elaborate tea parties for the missionaries. I'm excited for that :)